Linux Wireless Network Keeps Disconnecting {Ubuntu Netbook Remix}

This has nothing to do with filmmaking, but instead with a Linux issue I had on my Netbook, running Ubuntu Linux 10.10 (Maverick) with LXDE and OpenBox, although I was having the same issue even if I booted into Gnome.

In essence, the problem occurs after I put the Netbook to sleep. Basically, after re-waking it, the network would continually connect, then disconnect. The connection lasted only a few seconds, and it would keep disconnecting indefinitely.

After a lot of research, and while running the top program, I found that I was having a conflict between nm-applet and wicd — I somehow ended up with both of them installed while trying to optimize for battery life.

Issuing “sudo killall wicd” did the trick, and I was able to shut the lid, wait and re-open and the network came back on without any further issues.

So, make sure you only use the nm-applet, OR wicd tools.

I hope this will be helpful to someone out there 🙂

Val Gameiro
Writer, Director, Filmmaker

4 Replies to “Linux Wireless Network Keeps Disconnecting {Ubuntu Netbook Remix}”

  1. Twisted

    Had the same problem on a netbook (Samsung NC10) running Ubuntu 10.10 with Openbox.

    The wireless worked well until recently, then it started to connect and disconnect repeatedly when first booted, eventually settling to a steady connection after 10 minutes or so.

    Removed wicd and associated files and the connection is steady again, thanks for sharing the info it’s much appreciated 🙂

  2. Rob Hogenmiller

    How do you disable one or the other. I am totally foreign to Linux, just installed 11.10 and whenever I have to do a download over 100MB it disconnects my wireless internet. I’m wondering if this would fix this problem.

  3. admin

    Well, you can try just killing the process with “kill -9”, if it works after that, you can use apt-get to uninstall the service you don’t want.

    Best,
    Val Gameiro
    Writer, Director, Filmmaker
    Austin, Texas

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